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Wednesday, 29 November 2017

Poor old Cotton Hawes. It seems that he can’t interview a
woman about a case without falling in love. He even gets things going with the
widow of Sy Kramer, a blackmailer who has been gunned down roaring twenties
style in the middle of the city. When Hawes turns up and is mistaken for the
plumber, gets himself soaked while fixing the shower and has to remove his
shirt to dry off, we find ourselves in a classic scene. There’s humour, a
flavour of noir, character development by the bucket-load and all the while
there’s forward movement for the plot. In other words, it’s typical McBain. And
highly entertaining fiction.

The case of Sy Kramer is an interesting one. They guy has
landed some big cheques over a year and he’s spent extravagantly and with
taste. In the course of the investigation, we discover there are three main
sources of income. He’s been blackmailing the owner of a lemonade factory who
had a rodent problem, the wife of a politician with a history as a model and a
third from an unknown source which was the most lucrative of the bunch.

In Killer’s
Payoff (US)
Carella and Hawes take centre stage, the latter being keen to make amends for
his blunder when he arrived at the 87th. It’s an case that
will take him into the mountains to follow up Sy’s hunting habit and into the
up-and-coming areas of the city that are being overwhelmed by property development.
Best of all are the steps taken into the world of cheesecake – it’s a euphemism
that was new to me and if you don’t, you’ll just have to read it to find out.

Another great book that just makes me keen to read the next
in the series.

Wednesday, 22 November 2017

When we meet Annie Boone, she’s been shot to pieces in the
liquor store in which she works. The place has been wrecked and smashed glass
and alcohol fumes are Annie’s resting place.

As the police investigate the murder, they discover that
Annie is a woman of mystery. She had multiple personalities and each of them
has a corresponding suspect to track down. The trail takes us through the
creative world of the photographer, the seedy world of the pool hall, the
stiff-upper lip of society, the boozy world of bars and broken-down musicians
and to one of the finer department stores in the city. In each space, there’s a
character who defines the habitat and a story that leaves more questions than
it provides answers.

Along the way, we lose a cop and we gain.

Detective Roger Havilland meets his maker. He’s one of the
real bulls in the detective pool, a man embittered by an early experience when
he was trying to be kind. McBain disposes him with ruthless efficiency in many
ways, but there’s a whiff of fondness for the guy in there as the back story
creeps up on you.

Enter the frame Cotton Hawes. Hawes comes from a different
place altogether. He’s used to order and good citizenship, so the 87th
comes as something of a shock. He is a man of good education, but clearly has a
lot to learn when it comes to policing the inner city. He’s lucky in that
respect as he’s partnered with Steve Carella. Carella, on the other hand, is
not so fortunate. While investigating the murder of Havilland, there’s an
incident that becomes the talk of the precinct and almost ends the partnership
at the point of it beginning.

Killer’s
Choice (US)
is a cracker. The layers of our victim and of the city are slowly peeled away
until the cases are brought to conclusion. The angles aren’t neat and Boone’s
killer isn’t easy to spot, which makes the unpicking of the crime hugely
satisfying. Throw in our new man Hawes and you have a police procedural to
savour.

Wednesday, 8 November 2017

‘He looked back at
the open door. Maybe that’s it, Driver thought. Maybe no one else is coming,
maybe it’s over. Maybe, for now, three bodies are enough.’

We meet Driver in a mess of blood and bodies. What follows
is the story of how he ended up in such a disaster in the first place and the
journey he takes to try and stay out of trouble with the guys who are after
him.

Arcing back and forwards between the past and present is a
complicated business for most of us. Thankfully, Sallis lays it out in a way
that feels simple and means the strands fit together as smoothly as most of the
rides Driver takes the along the way.

We learn of Driver’s upbringing. The way he survived
troubled waters to become a leading stunt driver and a getaway star for armed
gangs.

Dabbling with the criminal underworld soon becomes so
lucrative that his day job loses its appeal. It also leads him into a
life-or-death predicament when he ends up holding a large amount of cash that
he shouldn’t have and doesn’t particularly want.

The layers work really well with each other. They have an
easy symbiosis that helps to deepen the interest and to make the protagonist
more intriguing and sympathetic.

Driver, himself, is a fabulous character. He’s patient,
talented, intelligent and loyal. He’s also ruthless and old-school and believes
there should be honour among thieves.

Keeping him company is a super cast – mobsters, writers,
family and the old doctor who is able to put Driver together when he needs it.

Short chapters and tight prose keep the book cruising along.
There’s conflict and tension in abundance. Backstory is a bonus rather than a
millstone and the author has his usual poetic and profound moments as he creates
phrases that can resonate and hit hard if you let them.

Thoroughly enjoyed Drive
(US)
and I recommend it whether you’ve seen the movie or not.

Saturday, 4 November 2017

Where to start? Normally the beginning. Where the hell is
the beginning of this one? I’m still puzzling over the structure and the layers
and they way the pieces fit together, but it’s a welcome challenge rather than
a chore. It’s one of those novels that keeps you guessing and uneasily on your
toes from start to finish and then beyond its grave, so to speak.

New Yorker, Danny, arrives at a European castle somewhere in
the middle of nowhere. He’s travelling light in many ways, though his luggage
includes a satellite dish so that he can keep in touch with what he considers
to be the real world. The weight of his internal baggage is much heavier. He
bears the scars of lost potential, broken relationships, of scrabbling through
the social rules of the world and those created by his deep need to be loved.
Though his new surroundings are like something from a fantasy, the bricks and history
he is required to navigate are solid and concrete, more so than any text or
blip on his social network radar.

He’s been invited there by his cousin, Howie, for reasons
that aren’t instantly clear.

Howie is rich and powerful. He intends to turn the castle
into a pure space for people to exist, discover their inner selves and explore
their imagination once they’re freed from the manipulation and bombardment of
modern cultural stimulus. He has a wife and family and a team of supporting
individuals working for me, including a menacing number two. Their biggest
problem getting is the woman who lives in the keep, an old baroness from a long
line of land-owning aristocrats. She has the ghost like properties of being
able to change in the eyes of her beholder and she insists that she’ll never
leave her home.

Danny begins to suspect that his role is to pacify the old
lady and persuade her to leave. He also worries that Howie has darker
intentions, given that he has every reason to want to mete out revenge for dark
deeds of the past.

As this plot twists and turns, there’s a sudden shift. This
story is contained within another. The story in which it is contained has an
impact upon the lives of others. Just when you think you know where you are,
the ground shifts and the view changes completely.

To elaborate would spoil the surprises, but each new angle
carries its own tensions and thought-provoking material. What’s important is
that each strand can both hold its own while being woven skilfully together as
things development and that when they are brought together they increase in
strength.

On a simple level, I enjoyed being drawn in to this. It’s
thrilling and engaging and haunting. At times it is uncomfortable, at others
perplexing.

At the end of it all, I was left with lots of questions. The
good kind. Those relating to identity, to the human condition, to the pitfalls
of contemporary life. I wanted to understand why the transitions felt so
seamless; how the depth of characters were so effectively mined; and what the
hell I’d missed along the way. I don’t have answers, but I’d be more than happy
to haggle over them in the comments section if you feel inclined.

Most importantly of all, I’d recommend you read the book. The Keep
(US) really is a
keeper, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Told in the present tense in a first person narrative, the novel
explores the inner workings of Clarissa Iverton who has just discovered that
her dead father had no biological connection to her. She tells of her unusual
upbringing and of the significant details of her early life. It is often in the tiny incidents that the most profound impact has been made.

Clarissa sets off to find her real father, a journey that
takes her to the extremes of northern Europe.

In Lapland she’s a complete outsider, but that’s nothing new
to her – she’s been an outsider for her entire life.

What unfolds is a beautiful tale. The images constructed
have the ability to take your breath away:

‘I lay on a bench
inside the waiting area. I slept with my purse held close to me, like an infant. On a nearby bench, a woman slept with her baby held close to her, like
a purse.’

And then there’s the poetic:

‘Above me, the moon
was a comma in the sky, a conjunction between days.’

Given the nature of her travels, I found it difficult to
understand how the author managed to make the situations so compelling. But she
did. Chapter headings were enticing. Stories were left unresolved until later
reflections. The resolution of each drama led to a new conflict or need in
Clarissa. I wanted her to find everything she needed along the way and the
drive of that, in itself, was crucial.

This one is spellbinding. I felt moved on many occasions and
now I’m wondering if I should let my fourteen year old daughter into the
secrets it holds (there is some adult material I’m not sure she’s ready for,
but in all likelihood she probably is). I reckon if I can persuade her to go
along, the power of the read will stick with her forever. If it goes to plan, I’ll
hold it in reserve for my other kids when the time is right.

One slight niggle for me is the final chapter. In some ways
the ending didn’t seem to fit. In others, it was perfect and was everything I
wanted it to be. Which is why this is perfect book group material – if you take
it on, invite me along – I’d love to know how you found the climax.